The exploitation of crabs by Last Interglacial Iberian Neanderthals:
the evidence from Gruta da Figueira Brava (Portugal)
Mariana Nabais cs 2023 Front.Environ.Archaeol.2
doi org/10.3389/fearc.2023.1097815

Hominin consumption of small prey has been much discussed over the past decades.
Such resources are often considered to be unproductive in the mid-Paleolithic (limited meat yield + low energy return), but
- ethnographic studies suggest: small prey incl.shellfish are a reliable, predictable, by no means marginal resource,
- there is increasing evidence for their inclusion in mid-Paleolithic hominin diets & even earlier.
Gruta da Figueira Brava features a MIS-5c-5b Hn occupation, that left behind substantial, human-accumulated terrestrial & marine faunal remains, capped by reworked levels that contain some naturally accumulated, recent Holocene material:
the remains of small crab spp & echinoderms.
The brown crab Cancer pagurus predominates in the intact mid-Paleolithic deposit,
reconstruction of its carapace width (based on regression from claw size) shows a preference for rel.large individuals.
The detailed analysis of the Cancer pagurus remains reveals:
complete animals were brought to the site,
they were roasted on coals, then cracked open to access the flesh.

On Tue, 21 Feb 2023 14:43:15 -0800 (PST), Marc Verhaegen
<m_verhaegen@skynet.be> wrote:

>The exploitation of crabs by Last Interglacial Iberian Neanderthals:
>the evidence from Gruta da Figueira Brava (Portugal)
>Mariana Nabais cs 2023 Front.Environ.Archaeol.2
>doi org/10.3389/fearc.2023.1097815

Pt eat crabs too:
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2019.05.002

Neither aquarboreal nor semiaquatic.

Op donderdag 23 februari 2023 om 15:27:07 UTC+1 schreef Pandora:

> >The exploitation of crabs by Last Interglacial Iberian Neanderthals:
> >the evidence from Gruta da Figueira Brava (Portugal)
> >Mariana Nabais cs 2023 Front.Environ.Archaeol.2
> >doi org/10.3389/fearc.2023.1097815

> Pt eat crabs too:
> https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2019.05.002

:-)
Yes, yes, thanks for the confirmation:
Pan indeed had semi-aquatic aquarboreal ancestors,
google e.g. "aquarboreal" or "human evolution verhaegen".
See my book p.299:
when the Red Sea opened into the Gulf (caused by the Zanclean mega-flood 5.33 Ma? Fancesca Mansfield),
- Homo went left along the S-Asian coasts ->H.erectus Java etc.,
- Pan followed the E.Afr.coast (José Joordens 2011, see below)
->southern EARS->Transvaal // Gorilla in the northern EARS->Afar:
as you know, Gorilla & Pan evolved in parallel from aquarboreal to knuckle-walking: gracile->robust->KWing:
afarensis->boisei->low-+highland gorilla // africanus->robustus->bonobo+chimp.

JCA Joordens 2011 thesis Univ.A'dam
"The power of place: climate change as driver of hominin evolution and dispersal over the past five million years"

Pandora wrote:

> Pt eat crabs too:
> https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2019.05.002
>
> Neither aquarboreal nor semiaquatic.

If they're habitually eating crabs then by definition they are
semiaquatic.

Unless these are the more elusive "Desert Crabs" that shun
water...

It's also completely fitting with the model I describe with
Aquatic Ape groups following fresh water outlets inland. Or
they would be if Chimps were an ancestor or even if they
resembled that last common ancestor, which they don't.

Yes, I am once again reminding you that Chimps are NOT
a model for any human ancestor. They're not even a model
for a Chimp ancestor!

Are Chimp brains are dependent on DHA as the human
brain is?

Are Chimps as bad at synthesizing DHA as we humans are?

How does the female brain size of this crab eating population
compare to non crab eating populations?

Because a diet rich in DHA can't make your brain any larger
than your genetics will allow. A diet poor in DHA can result in
a SMALLER brain than your genetics allows, just as
malnutrition in general can leave a person SHORTER than they
would have been given a proper diet...

But this has all been pointed out to you so many times that it's
safe to say that it won't register in your head this time either.

"No soup for you!"

-- --

https://jtem.tumblr.com/post/708628589026951168